


Little Teddy Lupin

by Abradystrix



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Hogwarts Express
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-22 23:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11390649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abradystrix/pseuds/Abradystrix
Summary: Teddy Lupin waits for his godfather before he heads off on the Hogwarts Express.





	Little Teddy Lupin

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this today, inspired by @blvnk-art’s wonderful illustration and animation in this post [http://blvnk-art.tumblr.com/post/162504926049/blvnk-art-youll-be-godfather-he-said-as-he]. 
> 
> It’s such an amazing image and all weekend I couldn’t stop thinking about little Teddy Lupin and his first trip to Hogwarts.
> 
> Thanks to @bounding-heart for beta-ing, @torestoreamends for her sweet support and to @blvnk-art for being so cool about me writing this!

In his white-knuckled hand he clutches the handle to his father’s old trunk. It is shabby, antiquated, and the letters R. J. Lupin were peeling and faded until Harry had helped him mend them. Teddy likes the feel of the leather in his hand, worn and full of history. History that he has no concept of, really, but he likes the connection he feels when he wraps his fingers into the grooves his father made. He wonders if his dad felt the same on his first trip to Hogwarts, if he gripped the same handle and looked at the same scene of a crowded train station, steam billowing, voices laughing and magic in the air.

He is so terribly excited and so very scared.

The worst part is that his hair has reflected this. It sits atop his head, a non-descript sandy brown and try as he might, he can’t summon anything brighter. His grandmother told him that on his mother’s first day at Hogwarts her hair was canary yellow, indicative of her future house and her sunny disposition. Maybe he’s got too much of his father’s shyness. He wishes he could ask them about it.

He’s looking at the large clock that overhangs the platform and watching the minutes tick past. His grandmother is fussing with his uniform, her grey eyes shining with a mixture of pride and, he thinks, sadness.

He goes over the things he has packed: he has his broomstick from Harry, despite a slight reluctance when it comes to flying. He has his mother’s Remembrall, a gift from his gran. He’s actually quite good at remembering, all told, but he likes to roll it in his hands when he’s thinking. He has his favourite photo of his parents, the one that had been displayed in his room at home, where they are happy and smiling at him, both then and now - for he is in the photo, a bump underneath his mother’s robes. Her hair is a shining bubblegum pink and his father is beaming at her, occasionally bending down to kiss her hair. They are are laughing and you really wouldn’t know there’d been a war on, his grandmother always says, half-wistful, half-amused. She doesn’t know, but he has a little photograph of her too, tucked inside of one of his books. It’s been the two of them for so long.

Harry said he’d be here and he isn’t yet and it’s making Teddy’s stomach twist a little bit. They’ve got ten minutes. Nine, now. Gran says he’ll be here soon. Teddy knows he keeps his promises but he’s got to get on that train and find a seat and say goodbye and do something, anything about this lump in his throat. He’s sure nobody else could possibly feel like this, they all look so happy and excited and his insides are squirming with nerves.

‘Where is he?’ he asks quietly, as his grandmother adjusts one of the straps on his trunk for the hundredth time. She opens her mouth to answer but stops and smiles.

All of a sudden warm hands are on his shoulders and a familiar voice:

‘Wotcher, Teddy.’

Unwittingly, he lets out a little squeak: his face lights up as he realises his godfather has made it after all, and that things might just be ok in the end.

***

Harry rushes through the barrier, paying no attention to the ubiquitous stares and whispers. He’s exhausted, after a late night call-out with the Aurors, which culminated in coming home to a full bed: Lily Luna asleep across Ginny’s chest, James Sirius like a starfish splayed on the bed, determined to wake up with his father and come to see ‘his Teddy’ off to Hogwarts (a failed plan) and Albus Severus, sitting bolt upright, wide-eyed and waiting for his father to come back. He’d crawled into bed in the small hours, managing to sleep through his alarm. He’d made it to his office just in time to get caught up in a very boring procedural meeting, in which he could not focus one jot. He’d bounded out the door at 11.35, beleaguered by owls, determined to see Teddy before he left.

He pushes his glasses up his nose and scans the platform. He catches sight of Andromeda’s silver-streaked hair, the unmistakable Black posture and poise ensuring that she stands tall and proud, even when fussing over her baby boy. He darts through the crowd and catches sight of the unusually sandy hair of his godson. For a moment, his breath catches in his throat and he is overcome with so much that he has to take a moment to gather himself. His mind is cast back over a decade, to another skinny, orphaned boy standing on the platform, awaiting a future of which he had no concept at all.

He watches the firm but loving hand of Andromeda on Teddy’s back and feels his heart loosen slightly at the knowledge of how very, very loved Teddy Lupin has been. He thinks about the first time he held Teddy, days after the Battle, his arms still scarred and heart still heavy, and how he’d sat on Andromeda’s sofa with this tiny blue-haired baby in his arms, and how he’d marvelled at him, and cried and apologised and promised him everything, eventually falling asleep as Teddy watched him with curious eyes, so like his father’s.

The pain of losing Remus and Tonks has never faded. It never will, but Harry knows he has done his utmost to do them justice in Teddy, in keeping him safe, and loved and supported. He has embraced the role of godfather unequivocally and poured every ounce of himself into the role, never wasting a moment. He has done this for Remus and Tonks, for what they sacrificed; for Sirius, and what he never could give; for himself, and what he wished he could have been given and most of all, for Teddy, with his magic hair and lupine eyes, and a penchant for chocolate and an uncanny ability to knock things over.

Harry swallows the lump in his throat, catches Andromeda’s eye with a wink and a nod, and places his hands on Teddy’s shoulders.

‘Wotcher, Teddy.’

His head whips round and Harry smiles as the small, skinny boy beams at him and hugs him tightly.

‘You came!’

‘Of course I did!’ says Harry, looking down at him. Teddy grins, but Harry can see the trepidation in his eyes.

‘Nervous?’ he asks, eyes searching.

‘Yeah,’ says Teddy, without hesitation. He’s so like his mother in that moment, honest and open about his emotions in a way that Harry envies.

‘You’re going to be great,’ he says simply, a hand on Teddy’s shoulder.

‘Yeah?’ he replies, scuffing a shoe in to the ground.

‘Of course. With parents like yours, and Gran-dromeda, how could you not be?’

‘And a Harry. I have a Harry!’ says Teddy quickly, eager to make sure his godfather doesn’t feel left out.

Harry feels his heart twist.

‘You’ll always have a Harry,’ he says softly. He stands up and searches in the back pocket of his trousers. He finds what he was looking for and, checking that Andromeda is engaged in conversation with another parent, surreptitiously hands Teddy an enormous bar of Honeydukes’ best chocolate. His eyes widen as he looks at the wrapper and then up to his godfather.

‘The first time I met your father…’ starts Harry

‘…he fought a Dementor and then gave you lots of chocolate!’ blurts out Teddy. ‘On the Hogwarts Express! With this trunk too!’

Harry laughs at this, grateful that Teddy knows the stories that Harry never had a chance to learn about James and Lily.

‘Exactly. So I thought it might be nice for you to have some today.’

‘Thanks Harry!’ says Teddy, glancing quickly at his grandmother and stuffing the ridiculously large bar under his jumper.

‘You’re going to be fantastic, Teddy Lupin,’ says Harry, and Andromeda turns back to them to nod her agreement. Teddy looks at them both. He stands up a little straighter and picks up the handle to his trunk. Harry helps him carry it to an empty carriage and Teddy stands on the steps as the train whistle blows. One minute to go.

‘Well…. Bye Gran. Bye Harry,’ says little Teddy Lupin, almost formally. Harry grabs him for a hug, lifting him up like he did when he was a toddler. Andromeda holds him tightly and beseeches him to write, and to remember that they’ll miss him every day. Teddy nods and with eyes shining, waves his little hand and turns back into the carriage.

Harry pops his arm round Andromeda, who is now crying silently, watching her grandson take his seat and glance at them out of the window. They beam at him and he beams back and slowly the train starts to move, and Teddy’s gaze moves from the platform to the tracks ahead, and Harry sees someone open the compartment door and knows that he’s going to be more than fine.

After a moment, Harry grins and states ‘Gryffindor.’

Andromeda wipes her eyes and turns to smile at him.

‘Oh no my dear. He’s going to be a Hufflepuff. Just like Dora.’

‘We’ll see’ says Harry thoughtfully, as the train disappears into the horizon and they turn to leave the station together.


End file.
